Junior Wraith NRI Missions: Bastion City
by AdraLoran
Summary: AU Wraith - Junior Wraith Squadrons. The first in a soon-to-be-formed series, this one revolves around the JW 'Triplets'. Fun stuff. Co-Writen with NicolaAfyon
1. The Mission

Title: Junior Wraith Squadron NRI Missions:  Bastion City  
Author: AdraLoran, NicolaAfyon  
Keywords: Junior Wraith Squadron, Wraith Squadron  
Dramatis Personal:  
NRI Head Iella Wessiri Antilles (female human)  
Liselle Afyon (female human)  
Melidere Afyon (female human)  
Inyri Loran (female human)

**Chapter One – The ****Mission******

"Come on, please Aunt Iella?"  Liselle Afyon asked her holdmother, a pleading look on the 14-year-old girl's face.

"I can't, Liselle, your parents would kill me," Iella replied yet again, not letting a bit of exasperation into her voice.

"But Aunt Jaina said you're the only one that Mom listens to!"

"Lis, you're fourteen.  I can't give you a field assignment yet, even if I wanted to."

"Mommy was fourteen when she joined the Empire and fifteen when she came over to our side."

"Fifteen and a half, actually," Iella corrected her.

Liselle shook her head slightly, getting strands of her long blonde hair out of her face.  Leaning back in her chair, she shrugged.  "Yeah, close enough.  I already know the whole story, it's what I've grown up on.  Mom was a kid smuggler from Ord Mantell for eight years or so, than an Imp, and then Targeter, before Jori sent out too many bounty hunters and Mom ended up in a gutter in a Corellian street."

Iella watched the girl as she recited her mother's career.  Pretty darn accurate.

"Now we come to all the romance.  Daddy finds her there, he whisks her off to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple, blah blah blah.  Insert all the soppy romantic stuff I'm not suppose to know about, Mom passes the trials, marries Daddy.  Then along come Meli and me, and two years later come Koyi and Ty.  In the process, Mom gets decorated with rank insignia, medals for bravery, and makes several heroic rescues."

Iella held up a hand, silencing the girl.  Well, she defiantly had the recitation part down pat.

"Listen to me dead.  True, your mother did do all those things at a rather young age, and she still does them.  But Nicola was already inside the Imperial system and things were pretty darn bad back them-"

"Things are pretty darn bad right now."

Inwardly, Iella cringed.  Her holddaughter knew more than any 14-year-old needed to.  "It was different then, Liselle, really different."

"So now you'll say 'Not this year, Liselle.  But keep trying next year and the year after that!'"

"Right."  Iella stood up and gave her holddaughter a hug, pulling the shorter girl towards her.  Liselle returned the hug and then pulled away.

"Well, I've got to go then.  Uncle Face wanted me to go give the new simulation data to Uncle Wedge, Aunt Jaina, Aunt Mara, and all the other squad leaders."

Iella nodded sagely.  "The Bastion City stuff?"

"Right.  And then Ehlana wants me and Inyri to meet her at Wild Knights to go over more tactics and stuff with us.  Mom and Uncle Face won't tell us, but I think that 'Lana's teaching us all this stuff for when she goes back to the Knights."  She raised a questioning eyebrow at Iella, as if asking for confirmation.

"Well, I obviously can't tell you, but you're going in the right direction.  Now, scout, you've got to go deliver that stuff."

Liselle grinned and disappeared from the office.

"Oh, and Liselle?"  Iella called, in afterthought.

Her blonde head reappeared around the corner.  "Yeah, Aunt Iella?"

"It's going to be an Afyon/Loran leadership when Ehlana leaves."

Her smile broadened.  "So I was right!"  And then she disappeared again.  

* * * * *

A little over a standard year later, Liselle was back in Iella's officer, only this time, Inyri Loran was with her.  Iella buried her face in her hands as the two "triplets" present grinned at her.

"Well, you did say try next year," Liselle said, laughter evident in her voice.

"Caught by my own tongue, I suppose.  Alright, let's hear your new argument."

The two blonde teens glanced at each other, blue eyes looking into silver, before nodding and turning back to face Iella.  If she hadn't known that they weren't, and they had had the same color eyes, she would've though that they were twins.  Of course, listening and watching Liselle with her actual twin was scarier, as the two were prone to talking and moving in unison or switching off as they spoke.

"Well," Inyri started, "According to what Dad told me, speaking several languages is a plus, which we both do.  Basic, Huttese, Corellian; did I forget any?"

"Ewokese.  And for me, old Alderaanian," Liselle supplied.

"Yeah, but who speaks old Alderaanian, nowadays?"

"My family and the other survivors of Alderaan."

"How many Alderaanian do you expect-"

Iella coughed and the girls' heads shot around to face her once more.  Both grinned evenly, and then Inyri started up again.

"Anyways," Liselle continued for Inyri.  "I'm also almost fully Targeter trained and Inyri's partially trained.  We both know how to handle blasters, lightsabers, and explosives.  On top of that, we're Jedi.  Well Jedi Padawans, but it's close enough.

The two looked expectantly at their "Aunt," hopes high.  Iella sighed and shook her head.  The adolescents sighed and slumped in their chairs.

"Not yet girls.  I hate to say it, but you're not old enough yet."

"But Aunt Nicola was fifteen when she became a NRI agent!" Inyri objected.

"But things were different back then, much different," Liselle said in a decent impression of Iella's voice, rolling her eyes.

Iella nodded.  "Right.  Nice voice impression by the way, Liselle."

The silver-eyed girl grinned.  "I've been working on it."

The older woman laughed.  "Alright, now I say 'Come back next year' and you say 'Don't worry we will.'"

Liselle wrinkled her nose.  "This is starting to get to be a drill."

Inyri nodded.  "We'll have to break that drill next year."

Iella rolled her eyes.  "Alright you two, go torture your squadron or something."

The two exchanged glances and began to grin wickedly.  "Ooo, good idea!"  Inyri started.

"We can make them to the _Reniquim_ scenario!"  Liselle finished for her friend.

"You two have been around Wes Janson for far too long.  Next thing we know, Lieutenant Kettch will be making the rounds again."

Liselle and Inyri grinned and rose to leave.  As they disappeared around the corner, Liselle poked her head back in briefly.

"Yub yub, Aunt Iella!"

* * * * *

Iella buried her head in her arms.  "This is not happening to me."  She lifted her head up to look at the four girls in front of her.

Liselle, Inyri, and Meli grinned broadly back at her.  "We've been recruiting," Inyri said.

"Well I can see that.  But you do know that bringing a ten-year-old along severely decreased your chances of success?"

Little Cerise Ritril, daughter of Tyria and Cloud Ritril and the baby of the Wraiths looked up.  "Oh, I'm not with them Aunt Iella.  I just got a ride over with them."

Iella's brow furrowed as she looked at her holddaughter.  "If you were looking for Alana, 'Rise, she's over at Rogue HQ."

Cerise nodded.  "I know, she commed me from there.  I'm supposed to get that new software for the nav computer data from you.  We're installing the Rogues' today."

Iella nodded in return and turned to get the datacards.  Cerise had inherited the best of the Ritril and Tainer traits, which thankfully had not included a love for explosives, but rather a love for ships.  She was actually much like a younger, blonde Alana Ynrer.  Tyria often had to drag her daughter out of the hanger bay at night.  If she didn't, the girl was likely to stay there for days on end.

She tossed the datacards over and the girl easily caught them.  Cerise flashed her a smile.  "Thanks Aunt Iella!"  And then she disappeared out the door without a backward glance.

Iella turned back to the triplets.  "We have a new argument this year?"

"We have a new argument this year," Inyri confirmed.

"Let's here it then."

Inyri looked over at Meli who looked over at Liselle and Liselle looked right back at Meli.

Meli shook her head.  "Nope, my elder twin will."

Liselle rolled her eyes and then started.  "Alright, we're sixteen now, the age when you're supposed to start flying in combat even though that rule is constantly broken.  So, we figure if that rule can be broken for over twenty people, why can't it be broken for three?  And we're older than Mom was when she first was Targeter."

"And," Inyri added in quickly, "from what Dad's said, being able to change appearance and identities is a plus.  We've all graduated with honors from 'Garik the Face Loran's Private Acting Academy'.  And Mom mentioned lip reading and being able to plant bugs, but we've been doing that for a _long while now."_

Iella raised an eyebrow at the three of them, expecting further explanation to the 'bugs' bit.  This time Liselle answered, saying, "What?" quite innocently. "How else do you think we Junior Wraiths keep on top of the Intelligence field?  Koyi and Kai have been supplying us with microphones and such to slip into our parents' pockets since they could use the proper tools!"

Though she should've told them that that was very wrong and they shouldn't be doing that and just for the fact they did it, the 'triplets' wouldn't get a mission, Iella couldn't.  She was impressed, really, at the ability with which the Afyon and Loran kids had improvised to learn information that was being kept secret from them.  With a sigh, Iella rose from her chair and walked around the desk to where the teenage girls stood.  Her sharp gaze remained on them, searching for anything that might slip.

Leaning back on her desk, she raised an eyebrow, not jumping to conclusions.  "And I suppose I should take it that because Face Loran trained the three of you in the ways of putting on a show, I should believe you can infiltrate Imperial territory."  Even without the Force, she could sense that all three girls were a bit shocked that such a thing would be a first mission, but ready and willing nonetheless.  When Iella got no answer- to which she attested to 'affirmative'- she sighed again.  "Unfortunately, what you told me two years ago is right again, Liselle.  Things _are pretty bad right now."_

The girls exchanged another look, then quickly returned their gaze frontward.  Iella felt a brief smile flick across her lips before she reached around a stack of papers to a datacard that was lying on the desk.  Holding it up as if it were nothing more than a piece of plasteel, she waved it slightly.

"This disk holds information on your mission.  If you hadn't come in today, I was going to request to your parents you go on this mission, in spite of the fact that it's against my better judgment."  Expressions of delight formed on the teenagers' faces, quickly halted when Iella's became thin and drawn.  "I expect a report in every three days.  You'll be there for six months at the most.  If absolutely _anything goes wrong, you report in and head back to Coruscant, understand?"_

All three of the girls nodded quickly.  After a moment, Inyri's voice came to her again.  "Um, Aunt Iella, where exactly is 'there'?"

Iella stared at them, hoping she wasn't sending them into anything they wouldn't be able to handle.

"Bastion."


	2. Unofficial Debriefing

**Inyri – Unofficial Debriefing**

At this rate, I don't know who I'm named after.  It could be Inyri Forge, thought that wouldn't necessarily make sense.  Mom knows Inyri Force, a Rogue pilot, but I can't see why she'd name me after her.  Then again, what about Inyri Larse?  Aunt Nicola's pseudonym.  But why would Mom name me after an Imperial, since that's what Aunt Nicola had been at the time.  Or...something.

No matter.  Right now, the main concern was telling my parents- and Lis and Meli's parents as well- that we'd gotten an official NRI mission.  Into Imperial turf.  An undercover mission.  As pilots.  Well, at least practicing in all those TIE cockpit sims had paid off.  Sort of.

I walked out of Aunt Iella's office, Lis and Meli- my "triplet sisters"- with me.  It wasn't hard to tell, even without the Force, that they were both ecstatic.  Of course, my face probably looked equally as goofy.  A smile was inching its way steadily larger over my face as we walked out onto the hanger bay.  Alright, Inyri, keep walking.  You know how to do this.  It's just a matter of acting.  Act like you're in control and...oh space it.  We're going on an NRI mission!

* * * * *

I don't really know how long it took us to fly back to base, but it seemed to take far too long.  At the same time, it was far too short.  What if Mom or Dad- or both- said no?  Then all my hopes would go down the drain.  Sure, Lis and I were in charge of the Junior Wraiths, but that didn't mean they'd allow us, and Meli, to pose as Imperials.

Hopping out of my X-Wing, I looked over at Lis.  She seemed to be thinking on the same lines as I was...and there definitely wouldn't be any mercy on her part.  While Aunt Nicola and Uncle Bror were my holdparents, and Aunt Nicola was also my Jedi Master, I truly have to say that I'm glad I don't have to persuade them to let me go.  Of course, I didn't quite fancy convincing Dad either.  Mom might be agreeable...I hope.

We walked into the building and all but ran into Ciny.  I had told her we were going to see Iella again in hopes of ousting ourselves a mission.  Her face was covered in a smile, and as she came to a stop in front of us, she hugged each of us before stepping back to bounce on the balls of her feet.  Sith, Ciny can hug _hard when she wants to._

When I was sure she was somewhat more sane again, I raised an eyebrow at her, blinking slightly.  She continued bouncing there, looking between all three of us, then burst out, "You're not going to believe it!"

At once, I glanced to the other two 'triplets' to find them glancing at each other and me as well.  Before I could ask Ciny what she was on about, however, my unspoken question was answered.

"Mom and Dad and Uncle Bror and Aunt Nicola were in the lounge and whatnot and they all got commed by Aunt Iella and, you guys are so lucky, but she said she'd just given you an official mission!"

Imagine that!  Can you believe it?  We already knew that.  However, just because I thought these things, it didn't mean I said them to my little sister.  She was obviously as excited for us as we were for ourselves.  Of course, I can imagine she wouldn't quit drilling me over the details of the mission.  Details I wouldn't be able to give her.

Around the corner came the adults Ciny had previously mentioned, all of them shining with happiness in the Force, but with other mixed emotions swirled into the blend.  Quietly, Mom asked Ciny if she would excuse them.  Though she looked a bit put out, I watched as Ciny complied with the 'request'.

The three of us were led into Dad's office and told to make ourselves comfortable.  Mom and Aunt Nicola both had frowns on their faces and were looking as if they were unsure what they should be feeling.  Dad had a trademark grin on, and Uncle Bror was as expressionless as usual.  It was Aunt Nicola who broke the silence.

"Well, I guess congratulations on your mission..." she trailed off, glancing at Mom before continuing.  "But you girls really need to understand what you're getting into."

Quickly I chanced a glance over at Meli and Lis, already able to tell this conversation wouldn't be as easily won as the one in Aunt Iella's office.

"We understand you three have wanted a Intel mission for a long time, so we're not even going to be cruel parents by telling you that you may not go.  Besides, Iella really needs this information and you three might be the best chance we have at getting it, unless we somehow managed to turn someone important into a spy for us."  As Mom spoke, the breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding was released.  She shot me a hard look as she continued, face drawn, "But that doesn't mean we expect you to believe you can get away with anything while you're off on this mission."

There was a very vivid pause before the silence was broken, the atmosphere of the room changing for the better when it was.  Maybe that's because Dad had the affinity of making things seem not so harsh, or whatever, or maybe because every one of the adults wished it so.  Nonetheless, it was better.

"So," Dad began, "While you're off at Bastion," and here I caught the quick glance he sent my mother, as if he were checking her reaction.  That alone made me wonder what was really going on behind the peaceable façade.  Of course, what I didn't notice was Uncle Bror giving Aunt Nicola the same sort of appraising look.

Dad continued talking and while I listened, part of my brain muddled over what the underlying problem was.

* * * * *

We were 'released' from our unofficial debriefing forty standard minutes later.  The three of us ventured back down through the hallways to our rooms, mine a shared room with Ciny across from the room my 'triplets' shared.  Quietly, we entered their room, sitting down on the bunks.  There was no preamble, just straightforward questioning.

"Did you see Mom's face?" Meli said, looking between the two of us.  Sometimes I wondered if she forgot I wasn't her real triplet, and not just because sometimes we all slipped with calling Aunt Nicola my mother.

Lis nodded, looking at me, before she spoke.  "Yeah, she almost looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't."

"That's what my mom looked like too...like there was something she wasn't sure if she should tell us," I said after a brief pause.

The three of us glanced at each other, all thinking the same thing:  What were our mothers leaving out?  They never usually withheld information unless ordered to.  It just didn't fit their characters for them to leave out information that they thought might be useful to us.  Not that we had a long time to ponder this fact.  We all had to get lunch soon enough, and the mess would be no proper place to hold a private conversation that you didn't expect to get around the two squadrons housed under Wraith headquarters' roof.

* * * * *

My sister surprised me by being up and waiting when I walked into our room to shower and change.  She was seated on a random chair near the wall, her eyes cast dimly on the floor.  Fearing something had happened to her, I crossed the room to stand in front of her, waiting for her to say something.

At last, she asked, in an almost-harsh voice, "Why do you insist on spending so much time with them?  I mean, yeah, they're your best friends, but in case you _haven't_ noticed, you've also got family!"

What?!  How could she be dissing Meli and Lis that way?  She hardly knew them, other than to go out to the demolitions range with Meli.  Trying not to appear ticked, I looked calmly at her, one eyebrow raised.  "Because they make a lot more sense to me than my other siblings ever will.  How's that?"

Ciny scowled darkly at me, looking over my newly-dyed hair, and said, "Not good enough.  Just because they're your "triplets" doesn't mean they know you any bett-"

"Actually, Ciny, they do.  Can you _please just give it a break?!"_

I couldn't believe she was saying this.  How could she be?  It was 2200 and I wanted to take my shower before I went to bed.  Besides, Mom had given me dye stuff to put in my hair to make sure it didn't start flaking out and she'd told me to use it tonight.  I turned on my heel and walked towards the 'fresher, not bothering to look back at Ciny's still form.


End file.
